Too many cheaters
by Olive nerd
Summary: After Sarah returned home with Toby about twenty-eight years later, Jareth captures two classes of middle school students and two classes of high school students to test his Labyrinth. But when ninety percent of them find a way to cheat in his game, freshman Meg Downey bravely takes the opportunity to run on her own. Alas, she captures Jareth's attention. Modern Labyrinth
1. Chapter 1

Too many cheaters

**I do not own **_**The Labyrinth**_**, but I wish I did. This is based on a really, really stupid dream I had. I hope you like it! By the way, this story is probably going to be very short. **

Chapter 1

It's a miracle we didn't die. We've been deprived of food and water for months. Shouldn't we have shriveled?

Some hairy creatures kidnapped us. I swear it's true. Say it's a foolish dream, a figment of my abnormal imagination. But, I know I was bit by one of the little monsters when some students from my school and I were dragged from our school. Now, the bite mark is a scar, but it still reminds me that this wasn't the result of my twisted thinking.

I soon discovered that four huge classes of children were taken, including mine. A couple of my friends and other kids were there with me, wandering in or around this seemingly abandoned, creepy maze. Some ventured inside this thing to try to find a way home, while others stayed outside and played with the biting fairies. (Yes, there were biting fairies in that wonderland that smelled like urine.)

No one knew why or how we got here. All we remembered was being dragged and coughing up clouds of glitter. It was quite the nightmare.

"Something bizarre is going on here," a junior named Mia whispered to me one morning. I assumed it was morning. The sky was bright blue enough to call the current time and early time, but time itself seemed to drift at a snail's place in this mysterious place. So, who was I to make any assumptions at all? I knew absolutely nothing.

"Really," I drawled sarcastically, playing with a patch of moss by a strange-looking fountain. "What makes you say that?"

She rolled her huge, blue-grey eyes but nervously tugged a few strands of her short, reddish brown hair. "We're not starving. We're not thirsty. We've been here for months, Meg. Is this even comprehensible?"

"It has to be," I snapped, trying to convince myself more than her. I found myself twitching uneasily. "Aren't you the person with all the answer, Ms. Mia Walters? Class president and future valedictorian?" She looked very offended, but I could honestly care less. Few kids at my school cared a rat's rump about me anyway, especially this prep girl.

We didn't meet the ringmaster of our captors until later that day. Chaos had erupted unpredictably inside the maze. Those of us, who stayed outside, about ten percent of us, suddenly shivered as a bitterly cold wind nipped out noses and flailed our spirits. Screams of terror gained volume like a chorus beyond the maze's slammed doors.

A dark haired senior with dirty glasses let out a squawk and pointed at the castle overlooking the maze. "Look there!" I squinted at the castle until I saw tiny figures climb desperately and hang on the castle's flying buttresses. Were we truly going crazy?

Something made me jump, a single voice, a strangled cry drier than sandpaper. "Meg!"

"Impossible…" I knew that high-pitched, girly voice anywhere since first grade, a voice that gave me confidence, built my self-esteem, and offered the warmest friendship I ever shared with anyone. "Larry? Larry!" My boredom transformed into dread, and my heart felt like it dropped to my feet. My body slammed against the obstructing and towering walls before anyone could stop me. "Larry! Larry! Are you hurt?"

"He can't hear you," the same senior told me. I believe his name was Todd. I really didn't care then. "None of them can. I don't know how you heard his voice, but it's probably a dirty trick."

"What?" I huffed angrily. "His cry for help is a trick? How dare you!"

"You don't know whose in charge here." He glanced over my shoulder at the grotesque castle. "Don't you see? They cheated." I thought I heard distant laughter, and Todd visibly paled.

**If this offends anyone, I take full ownership and apologize. But if it doesn't, please send me a review!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**There may be a bit of profanity in this thanks to my OC, Meg Downey, so beware!**

"Cheated?" I shared a perplexed look with Mia and several other kids before asking the senior, "what do you mean?"

He gave me a look full of pity before muttering, "I know this place. I had doubts before, but now I know for sure. This is definitely the labyrinth, a- and they cheated!"

"What's considered cheating," a seventh grade boy asked. "Climbing that castle up there?"

"No…." His expression darkened as his eyes searched my face, as if I was a possible culprit. "They have a chance to go through the labyrinth. I guess it's for…. Getting our of here?"

"Correct." We all turned to face glitter, loads of it. A barrel of it fell on my face, and as I sneezed and squealed, a smirking man appeared. When I finally blinked away the horrid stuff, I gawked at the stranger. Talk about strangely gorgeous! He was tall, stood rather regally, and had odd blonde hair. He could've made all my former crushes look like the average Joes. But at the same time, something seemed off about him. Plus, his attire… I had to look away before this situation became gross.

"Your friends have found a shortcut to my castle for their freedom," He declared, observing us with slight interest. "Yes, to answer the question that's hanging in your minds, I made my goblins kidnap all of you to test my labyrinth, hence I gave your frail bodies enough magic to go without food or water. That is, as long as you stay here." His smirk never left his face, and he gave a small, sinister snort.

_Does that mean we'll die as soon as we leave this awful place, _I thought. _This rock star has got to be drunk. He does look a bit pale!_

"Todd was right!" A sixth grader with blonde pigtails gasped. The man smiled wickedly at her and then at Todd, whose fists were reddening. _This guy must've done something pretty unforgiving to Todd. _

My assumption seemed supported. Todd doughtily jumped to knock the older man down, but he disappeared as quickly as he appeared and clapped his hands. His claps sent Todd down a random deep fissure in the ground.

"Hey! Todd!" I stepped closer to the fissure, but that rotten dude closed it up before I acted instinctively and quite foolishly and hopped after the senior. _What good would that do? Abandoning the others? _

"You certainly act before you think," he droned sardonically at me. Then, he scrutinized me, almost as if I reminded him of something, but soon shook his head. "I am Jareth, Meg Roberta Downey, king of the goblins. And yes, I know each and every one of you, cheaters and children."

We suffered through an awkward silence until Jareth announced, "Those cheaters of yours are now my prisoners. I must attend to them and have my goblins take care of them. Meanwhile, enjoy staying here and living without going hungry or thirsty, thanks to me." His handsome countenance suddenly turned vicious, uncaring. "Or, if you wish, you may defy me, enter my labyrinth without my permission, and suffer the consequences." He glanced crossly at me as he muttered, "And no cheating. Questions?"

"How long do we have," Mia wondered aloud, "to run through this maze?"

"Thirteen hours." Jareth floated over the fissure that Todd fell clumsily in and sealed it shut with a transparent force field.

Okay, despite seeing this with my own eyes, I had to be the skeptic of this magic show. He acted like the maze was going to murder me in my sleep. Even if it could, I had to think about Larry, not myself. He was probably in grave trouble.

So, I did what any compassionate, innocent girl would do when her best friend needs to be rescued; I played the bitch card. "You honestly expect me to believe this, 'your majesty'?" I spat the words out, considering it the perfect counterblow for a cruel joke. "Where's Larry?"

"Lawrence?" He looked at me as if I spoke in a different language, sauntered over, and presented a small, iridescent crystal to me. "Meg, your friend is like the rest of them, a cheater. He's better to forget than to save. He deserves the utmost punishment. But…" His mismatched eyes skimmed over us all, meek minors. "Although you're by far the most unimpressive group I've ever witnessed, you have two options: rescue them or let them rot in oubliettes. However, this is important, children; you may only rescue them when I say so. Right now, you may not."

Blonde pigtails tested the word "oubliette" on her lips. I chose to ignore her, not wanting to explain what they were, and marched up to Jareth with my chin held high. Before I could ask another question about Larry, we all heard something shatter within the walls of the labyrinth.

"Damn those goblins." Jareth peered into his crystal ball. "They're letting those inconsiderate brats escape!"

"How rude," Blonde pigtails complained boldly. "My brother may be an idiot, but he's no brat!" Jareth chuckled and pretended to throw his crystal at her, disappearing.

"He's gone!" I hopped into action and pressed my hands against the labyrinth's entrance, pushing with all my might. "I don't know about any of you, but I'm going in while I have the advantage: no supervision!"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The doors never budged. They were sealed tightly and staying that way. So, I did what any sane, young woman does when her best friend who happened to save her from her own demise is kidnapped in a perverse king's castle; I climbed the walls.

Let me tell you right here and now: that was not a walk in my doggy park. Not only is my frizzy hair the color of red dirt, and my eyes match the color of an emerald tree boa's coils, but also I'm super big. So, it was easy to see that not many kings and goblins have shaken up my boring, sedentary life until this happened.

After what felt like hours of struggling, I slung myself over the wall and plopped down back to the ground, squishing something beneath me – or someone.

"Get off!" Someone cried, muffled by my back. As soon as I heard the bitter voice, I gasped and got off the creature, an elderly-looking dwarf with a nasty scowl on his face.

"Yer wasting yer time, girly!" He scurried off, but I quickly grabbed his wrists. I knew I needed someone who knew the ins and outs of this insane place. "What's yer problem, Chubby? I ain't helpin' no one but Hoggle and me!"

"Who's Hoggle?" I knelt to his level. "Let's establish this while we're getting to know each other: I'm no girly or Chubby. I'm Meg. And you are…"

He was more polite after I turned assertive. "I'm Hoggle, Meg. And as pleasurable as it was to meet you under such eccentric circumstances…" I rolled my eyes but listened. "…Yer ain't standin' in my way! Jareth –"

"AHA!" I released his tiny hands, watched him fall on his bottom, and cheered. "So, you do know his majesty then! I order you to take me to him!"

"Who's making orders," Hoggle hollered. "I don't take orders from nobody but the king!"

I stood straighter and stared and him kindly, using a more persuasive approach. "What if the order was from the loveliest and gentlest Princess Megara?"

"Oh… You know her?" I groaned and slowly slapped my hands over my face.

"Look, Hoggle. I got nothing. If you don't want to help, then leave!" I walked farther and farther into the labyrinth, absentmindedly feeling the various and unblemished spots on the walls. "I need to – eep!" My left arm went through a wall! But before I could go into my freaky, panicky mode, a tiny worm with a cerulean Afro came to my rescue.

"Never fear, my dear! That there's one of the many openings! But, be sure to stay away from that castle!"

"Uh…" I looked for Hoggle, but he had abandoned her a long time ago. "Look, Wormy, uh… What's your name?"

"*Harry. My, you've changed! Did you do something to your hair?"

I raised my eyebrows at the worm, befuddled. "Harry, sir, if I would have remembered meeting someone special like you."

The poor worm turned as crimson as the scarf he wore. "Thank you. I apologize, dear. You just remind me of a young girl I met before." This gave me hope, the idea that the stupid people who go to my school weren't the first to enter this complicated maze.

"What is your name?"

"Okay, my name is Meg. Please, Harry, don't call me a dear or dearie. I know what I am, and I'm not that." I frowned sourly, remembered the many names younger children used to call me back at school.

"Alrighty then!"

"It was nice meeting you, but I must find the castle –" I slapped my hands over my mouth. _Shoot!_

Harry looked quite sickly after I said that. "But, Meg! Why would you ever want to go straight to that dreadful castle?"

I stood straighter and put on a sweet smile, remembering my geeky but selfless friend, Larry Sanderson. "Haven't you ever had a friend you'd do anything for, Harry?"

"Can't say I have." I dropped my smile but nodded understandably. At least he was honest.

"Well, he saved me from drowning once upon a time. I better find my way because I'm on a time limit." I went left, where my arm was, and nodded gratefully to Harry. "I hope we see each other again."

"Me, too. Good luck, Meg!"

xxxx

Meanwhile, an enraged king was throwing goblins around and stomping on their hands because he could. "Insubordinate girl!" He kicked a bag of chicken feed reserved for the poultry the goblins chased, and some goblins trembled or yelped crazily in fear. "She's a fat, annoying version of Sarah Williams! How dare she torment me!"

He brought a crystal close to his glistening lips, kissed it, and released it. As it floated away from the castle, from his vision, he whispered venomously, "She'll regret entering my labyrinth when I specifically told her and her companions not to! I hope she likes chocolate." He cackled evilly at his joke. But when he found his goblins not laughing along with him, he barked, "Well?" Then, they stopped staring at him and laughed like hooligans and morons.

***I didn't know what the worm's name could be, so I picked Harry. **


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Hello, pudgy." I stuck my tongue at the Goblin King then choked on the glitter surrounding him. "I revere your chivalry, even though you're impulsive, my dear."

I just glared daggers at him, not bothering to hide my contempt. I saw through his compliments, right to the condescending portion of this ruler's personality. _Stupid clothes_, I snorted to herself. _Who does he think he is? A metrosexual magician? _"I don't need your reverence," I crowed. "And honey, it's not blubber. These are curves. Where's Larry?"

Jareth pretended to look thoughtful and offered me a pat on the back. "Now, now, child. I leave my cheaters with my goblins. Your friend, Todd, is probably keeping Lawrence company in one of my many oubliettes."

"How delightful," I droned sarcastically, slapping Jareth's hand off my back and away from me. I really disliked being touched by other people. "And hands off, Barbie doll! You can't touch this!" I swung her hips around voluptuously, while Jareth wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"As inviting as that sounds, I have cheaters to execute."

"Hey! I was only teasing – What?!"

"Enjoy your stay!" He gave a sinister laugh and clapped his hands. My black converse high tops were caked with something brown and sweet smelling. I slipped on the substance as I tried to catch Jareth before he dissolved and left more glitter.

"He's going to give me asthma!" As I was violently coughing and trying to scrape the goo off my shoes, something swallowed me up from underneath my feet.

I tumbled for a long, long time, and not in the mawkish, Alice in Wonderland way. My personal experience with a rabbit hoe was full of torture. Oily bugs and lizards, dozens of them, crawled around and licked my shoes. When rats started dropping in the mix I just lost it.

"I'M NOT FOOD!" My butt landed soundlessly on something filthy and rough: the floor of my new prison. "This oubliette better have painkillers," I snapped.

I instantly crawled on my knees and searched for something to light on fire. I was fortunate to have an unhealthy obsession with fire under these circumstances and have my trusty lighter on me. "Oh, right! There's this" I tore off a sleeve of my scarlet red t-shirt and lit it up. "It's a hand-me-down anyway."

Skeletons littered the already dirty floor of my prison, and a horrible stench of a cruel, long-lasting death filled my nostrils. But on the bright side, the jerky king left me some chocolate, both on my shoes and on clean plates in the oubliette. (Hopefully, it was chocolate.) "Guess he's not a total," I supposed, still looking around. "Now, where would I be if I was the nearest exit?"

"You ain't going nowhere!" Hoggle crept up from his hiding place and smacked both my flabby arms. "I usually don't hit, but you've crossed the line! If you defy Jareth one more time, I'm stench food!"

"Stench food?"

Hoggle explained to me his fear of the Bog of Eternal Stench and why Jareth was so focused on her insubordination. "No one's ever defied him this much since… since… Sarah was here." He sounded almost pusillanimous and was a walking sprinkler because of all the perspiration dripping from his glazed forehead.

"Who the heck is Sarah? Look, Hoggle, thank you for everything you've done. But, we must make the most of this. I really don't have time. I need to get Larry." But as I brushed pass him with a nod, the dwarf grew desperate and clung on to my legs. "Hey!"

"Please! Sarah is the girl he lo –"

"Well, well, well." More glitter made Meg gaga and suffer. "Isn't this a treat? Little Hoggle chases a girl, again, and is about to be sent to the Bog of Eternal Stench with his girlfriend, again."

**Should I continue? Please let me know!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Suddenly, Larry appeared out of nowhere and knocked Jareth on the head with golf club. Weird kid.

Still, I was overjoyed to see my best friend again. "Larry!" I skipped over to him as he unceremoniously threw his golf club over his shoulder. I embraced his shaky form, which was sort of graceless since he's a foot shorter than me.

He returned my hug with a grin, but his eyes were bleary. "Meg! What are you doing? You should return to the outside of the labyrinth immediately! A senior I helped has gathered the riot."

"You mean Todd?" He nodded, while I just looked at him as if he turned into a dodo bird. "Larry, I came to rescue you. And no matter what you say or do, I'm not leaving here without you –"

"This isn't a chick flick," Larry snapped at my cliché words and me.

Hoggle toddled over to us with a sneer on his face. "Listen, missy! There here ain't a conference for ye and the mister! We've got to get out of here before –" Jareth sprang up from his nap, but Larry quickly knocked him out again with a fist.

"Larry!" I've never seen him react so violently before. He just grabbed my hand and kicked the wall of our oubliette. The wall shattered into a thousand pieces, and Larry led Hoggle and I to the nearest exit, wherever that was. He apparently had time to explore.

My stomach growled all of a sudden, and soon Larry's belly roared in harmony with mine. We shared worrisome looks.

"I guess my plan of knocking the Goblin King out and consequently delaying his magic wasn't my smoothest," my best friend part whack job part nerd admitted sheepishly. I just rolled my eyes and stepped into a clearing, which oddly brought us to the beginning of the complex maze. I recognized the adhesive moss eyeing us and whispering, and this gave me a boost of confidence.

By the time we stepped outside, however, my energy was drained, and my limbs wobbled and felt like jelly. Hoggle caught me before I could pass out, and Larry put a hand on my forehead. I gave him my famous you're-nutty look, be he healed me in no time.

"How…?" I stared at him, fascinated. He had straw-like blonde hair, emerald eyes, and skin as pale as the crest of a fjord in winter. He also had abnormally blood red lips. When we were very little, I predicted he was a vampire. I never caught him in the act though or caught him doing anything else that was too unusual or supernatural until he healed me that day.

Larry just shrugged and directed me to the other children, who were huddling around Todd. Blond pigtails actually hugged my torso, and I smiled affectionately at her.

"Thank you," she whispered. I gave her a dumbfounded look.

"I did nothing!"

"No she ain't," Hoggle agreed mindlessly, as Larry and I rolled our eyes.

"On the contrary, she defied the Goblin King." Larry gazed at me admirably. "A human, of flesh and blood, defied him, the first among us here."

I blushed and grinned at him. But then, I wondered what exactly he meant. He and several others defied him before me, right? Surely I wasn't the first here! What about Todd?

I looked back at Todd and then Larry. They could've been twins, except Larry was a blonde and Todd a brunette. Both had those similar, big green eyes… Oh no.

Jareth appeared and smirked at us, again. "I see my sons have found their champion," Jareth cried smartly. "Another Sarah."

"Sarah this, Sarah that!" I was treading on ominous roads, but I couldn't care less when this smart mouthing king was speaking about this random girl or woman. Hoggle mentioned her not too long ago, but what made her so special? Was she just a figment of his twisted imagination? I had to ask.

Then, it hit me. He claimed that Todd and Larry were his sons, these awful kidnapper's sons! I gulped but opened my mouth to speak. "Your lordship," I said as theatrically as possible, hoping the sarcasm in my voice overruled the guise of respect. "Who is this lady you speak of?"

Jareth stared at me then glanced cynically at Todd and Larry. "If you must know, smelly human, she is my sons', Todd and Lawrence's, mother. A potential queen…"

"WHAT?!" All of the children, included me, yelled. Without responding, Jareth left us again with another obnoxious cloud of glitter. As I chocked and spat out the glitz, my mind did summersaults. Who was this queen? Was she human like us? Was she kidnapped, too?

Todd seemed to know what I was thinking and approached me. "I read about Sarah," he explained pushing his glasses closer to his angular face. "Before I came here, I read the tale. I always hated the Goblin King for what he did… He loved Sarah, and she loved him. However, the king was so selfish… He stole her and hid her from everything and everyone she loved for a long, long time. Eventually, I put two and two together and realized this woman was my mom."

"Is she alive today?" I had no idea the two boys in front of me were brothers, and from the way Larry cringed, it seemed like he didn't know either.

"Yes. She takes care of me." He gave Larry a pitiful look before whispering, "We had to let Larry go because he inherited the dangerous magic –"

"What!" Larry's palms suddenly glowed and wrinkled. "Is this what I'm hearing? Who are my parents then?!" I nodded in agreement, remembering the couple that welcomed me when I visited Larry's house.

"Your Uncle Toby and his wife Lu," Todd answered coldly, pushing me and several other children away from Larry's wrath. "Don't do this. You have no idea what you're capable of doing…."

I watched two brothers fight each other and shook my head in dismay, fighting back warm tears. Hoggle patted my leg sympathetically, but nothing could help. Why couldn't we just go home and fatten ourselves?

"I'm sorry, Hoggle. This all sucks! I didn't think my 'defiance' would bring all this mayhem!" Hoggle nodded slowly, and I sighed, still bitter and ravenous.

When Larry was finished trying to claw out his older brother's eyes, he came over to me and conjured something in his hands. He tossed it to me, and my mouth instantly watered. In my hands was the brightest peach, delicate and barely bruised. I loved slightly blemished fruits. They were the best and juiciest to me.

"Well, go on! Eat up!" He laughed almost uneasily as I raised the peach to my lips, but I didn't pay attention. Hoggle eyed him skeptically, but I knew he'd die before confronting a son of the ruthless king, a son who could roast him for supper no less.

But before I bit it, I told Larry, "I appreciate this, but I have to share with someone!" He abruptly shut me up with a wave of his hand, and my voice was gone. My muffled cries softened against the flesh of the peach I was forced to eat with a numbed tongue. How could he trick me like this?

Before I could attempt to spit out the food, my body hit against something comfortable and my eyes drooped shut. I woke up on my bed in my room, dazed and hungry.

"Stupid dream," I muttered to my orange tabby cat, Fiasco, who napped lazily at the foot of my bed. He mewled in response.

Beside me was the book I remember reading last night, _The Labyrinth. _"Now I remember… This has to be what Todd was talking about… But was that part about the sons true?"

My question was answered when my right hand squeezed something squishy: the peach, once bitten, sweet smelling, and rotten. I had one more question left; if Larry gave me the peach just like Jareth gave Sarah and nothing was a dream, how do I remember what happened?

A taunting voice whispered lowly, "_Because, Meg, you defied and won… The children were returned and alive."_

Something told me Jareth didn't help us out of the goodness of his heart. I was right. _"Fortunately, you look like Sarah…" _

I could only hope that vindictive king wasn't going to kidnap any more children any time soon. There were only so many Sarah look-alikes. I opened my mouth, wanting to say something sage. But, all that came out was: "I must've had way too much chocolate last night…"

The End


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